


Almost There

by Nines35711



Series: Never Cared [4]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Grades, Graduation, High School, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:46:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21522406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nines35711/pseuds/Nines35711
Summary: He had missed half a year but Anthony convinced him to at least try.
Series: Never Cared [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1181426
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	Almost There

**Author's Note:**

> Apologies for the weird format, I wasn't quite sure how to stop the double spacing in the poem bit. Hope you enjoy.

At some point, he really did start trying.

 _Work Harder_ , he tried

 _Pay attention,_ oh how he wished he could

 _Show up_ , they demanded.

He was tired

Hungover

Still drunk

Or just didn’t want to go.

How could they expect perfection when

He could hardly pay attention.

How could they expect attendance when

His head hurt too much to get up in the morning.

It was unfair, biased, and rude.

Anthony made him study and read.

He made him come to class and take the tests.

He listened when the day got too stressful.

His grades raised marginally and he studied his ass off

And he almost managed to pass twelfth grade.

_At some point, he really did start trying._ He realized far too late that he'd end up like his dear old daddy if he didn't get a high school diploma. He begged Anthony to teach him, since Anthony had needed good grades to stay on the football team. He got study sessions once a week and agreed to go to class.

 _Work harder, he tried._ He would write down everything until his hand hurt but the words didn’t make sense. He supposed that was his punishment for starting halfway through the year. The cold of January almost made it harder to remember to do his work.

 _Pay attention, oh how he wished he could._ There was always some clicking pen, some scraping chair. He ended up hungry before he even got to lunch and focused on that instead. It made it pretty hard to pay attention to examples or work.

 _Show up, they demanded._ His bus came far too early and his mom and John were too busy with work to drive him to school at all. If he didn’t manage to get up in time, he had to hope Anthony hadn’t already left. He’d missed nearly half the school days for this last year and it would be a miracle if he graduated.

 _He was tired, hungover, still drunk, or just didn’t want to go._ Despite the cleansing of alcohol in the house, he could still manage to snatch some from someone else's parents or get a few drinks in exchange for being in someone else's bed. It wasn't too bad of a trade off, if he was being honest. He passed well enough for eighteen and no one had any issue with taking him to the motel down the road from the bar.

 _How could they expect perfection when he could hardly pay attention?_ He kept getting annoyed in class. The teacher would drone on and he'd get impatient waiting for the class work until eventually he'd get the work himself or storm off to the bathroom. He couldn't read for more than five minutes without getting dizzy and the words blurred together like someone had dumped water on fresh ink. He couldn't manage writing an essay, so how was he to get good grades.

 _How could they expect attendance when his head hurt too much to get up in the morning? It was unfair, biased and rude._ He ended up with a headache whether he drank or not. He couldn't avoid it beyond trying to sleep it off. That made him late to school and he'd get pissed off and do everything all over again. And then they'd blame him. They'd say he wasn't trying hard enough and he wasn't putting the effort in to get to school. It just wasn't fair. They didn't know what was going on, not that they'd cared to know.

 _Anthony made him study and read._ He'd make him wear a pair of embarrassing dollar store glasses and get to work on the book they were reading. Anthony would drag him out of the house to come over and do homework where there wasn't a loud TV or the sound of his mom having sex. He'd let him stay the night if he got everything done.

 _He made him come to class and take the tests._ He didn't pass most of them, the big ones dragged his grades down to where he couldn't even manage to get them up before the next one. But he went and took them anyway because Anthony promised him rewards for it and damn if he wasn't motivated by physical gratification.

 _He listened when days got too stressful._ It happened often. He'd climb in through the window afterschool to avoid Anthony's parents and rant loudly about his day until Anthony pulled him over to the bed and made him scream into a pillow. His voice would be croaky afterward and he'd be tired but he'd gotten his frustration out. And then they'd settle on the mattress and get to work when he was ready. He was never as productive those days, but he still did the work and accepted Anthony's help when he got something wrong.

 _His grades raised marginally and he studied his ass off._ Every completed homework lifted it a few points. He'd go over his notes constantly and try to practice on Anthony's computer with the pages his teachers shared. He worked until Anthony pulled him away from the desk in his room, trying to make sure he could get through the tests at the end of the year.

 _And he almost managed to pass twelfth grade._ His mom dropped the mail on the counter afterschool and in the junk mail and magazines that John had delivered was a letter from the school. He took it to Anthony's house and when they opened it, Anthony with a grim expression on his face, they read in far too long of a letter that he wouldn't be graduating this year. There was no offer of summer school, since even that wouldn't help him.

 _He got drunk and cried into Anthony's chest the whole night._ He didn't even want to go back next year, knowing that he'd done everything possible and still failed. Before, he'd gotten pity bumps up into the next grade because they wanted him to graduate eventually but he just didn't get that this year. Anthony _had_ graduated, because of course he did. Anthony was amazing. He was damn good in a fight and damn good at school, and Anthony promised he wouldn't move on to college until he could go too. Anthony gave him water and ibuprofen in the morning, letting him play Stardew Valley on some handheld device so he didn't get too frustrated with his hangover. He would go to school every day next year and he would pass, he swore to himself.


End file.
